Epidemic Pneumonia (Spanish Influenza) in Pregnancy

Physicians from Chicago discuss their experience treating pregnant women suffering from pneumonia and/or "Spanish Influenza." They report a 51.4 per cent mortality rate and conclude "the death rate among pregnant women is materially higher than among nonpregnant women." Also remark that "the most prominent feature noted during the clinical course of the disease was the apparent ease of abortion or premature labor, its rapidity and the apparent lack of pain incident to it."